Ah... I love it when a question drops into my lap.
The Royal Saudi Bell 412.... Sixteen were built (8 by Bell / 8 by Agusta). Agusta built an additional 5 with a follow on of 4 with a mission suite variant for the Turkish Coast Guard --- so a total of 25 were built.
The engine was the PT6T-9 which uses a derrivative of the same FADEC (Pratt & Whitney refer to it as an EEC) that is used on the 427 and the 429. The thing had kick-ass OEI and hot-high performance.
The cockpit used the Rogerson Kratos 6x8 inch MFD displays. These were the first generation of the displays now in the Bell 429. Both of these displays were a far cry better designed than some of RK's EFIS /IIDS stuff that I've heard people lament about on this site. One of the reasons it was so much better was because it was they had a totally different design team for the large MFD. The next generation of the 412 RSAF display system (with Improved resolution display glass, TAWS TCAS improvements, improved video performance for FLIR, EVS, cameras, etc) is now in the Bell 429 avionics. Bell calls the overall avionics package the "Bell BasiX Pro" system (It uses RK displays built, with a Bell-designed autopilotand aircraft systems interface, plus a Honeywell flight sensor package ) The "BasiX Pro" system in the 429 retains all the search and rescue capability that existed in the RSAF.
The RSAF 412 was displayed at the HAI show in Dallas in 2002.
Bell has considered completing civil certification of this 412 variant in the past. It was originally announced as the 412+ in 2001, A later version with the 429 improvements (called the 412 Generation 5) was discussed with the press by previous Bell CEO Mike Redenbaugh. But both these efforts were later cancelled.
Last edited by Avnx EO; 22nd Dec 2010 at 15:55.